No place for inequality at the workplace

Women in average have a 13% lower salary and 22% lower pension than men. They enter the supervisory boards 12 years later. Even when they do that, they’re pretty lonely there: the ratio is three men to one woman. On top of that, despite it being illegal, every third woman gets asked about kids during a job interview. What’s causing this and what can we do about it?

Who did you think of first — men or women?

STOP GENDER INEQUALITY

Gender prejudice is so deeply rooted in our society that we often don’t even notice it. At the same time, their consequences for women are very much noticeable. We started the NIJE U REDU U UREDU (No place for inequality at the workplace) action along with the CESI association with the aim to eradicate gender prejudice, improve women’s rights at the workplace and to show that there’s no place for gender inequality at the workplace… nor the warehouse, the field or the store.

If gender prejudice is causing inequality, how can we show that even the most aware ones, including women, sometimes don’t notice them? Just like that — to test them without them even noticing it.

They should focus on family, not a career. // They don’t have as much business sense. // They care more about looks than work. // It’s natural that their salaries are lower.
 Even though no gender was mentioned in these statements, 85% of nearly 50 000 voters thought of women first — and there’s no place for this kind of prejudice at the workplace.

NO PLACE… THE CAMPAIGN HASN’T APPEARED AT

After being outdoors, the CESI campaign soon took place online at nijeuredu.com where, besides raising awareness, we called for a real, visible change — signing the petition to change part of the Labour act.

Without any investment in online advertising, the set goal of 10 000 signatures was exceeded in just three days, and when the biggest national companies, employees and public figures joined the initiative, the campaign exploded! As much as 39 companies got involved (Atlantic Grupa, Hrvatski Telekom, Wiener insurance, IKEA, JGL, Zaba…) as well as numerous influential individuals.

Various individuals from the cultural and business community joined the campaign and shared their vision of gender equality at the workplace.

The set goal was exceeded in just three days.

Everybody had something to say: companies, media and individuals have, of their own accord, shared our website’s content more than 30 000 times, and an addition to that were the shared stories that came from women who have themselves experienced gender discrimination at the workplace.

“I got fired as soon as I told my boss that I’m pregnant” — this is just one of many examples of gender discrimination at the workplace that women have experienced.

“Nije u redu u uredu” has generated an unprecedented interest from the business community and the amount of media coverage that CESI association has never had before. The campaign was mentioned in 57 different media outlets which helped gather more than 20 000 signatures by the end of it — an important step towards changing the law and the society in which the opening prejudiced statements will, in our minds, truly be gender neutral.

The campaign posts had flooded the social media and the national news sites.

#nijeuredu is the most successful CESI petition ever and among the top 6% of the most successful national petitions in the last decade.

Of all the social media, LinkedIn was of special importance for us because that’s where we could reach individuals that have the power to make real changes.

The next step is handing out all gathered signatures to the Ministry of Labour as a sign of support to the proposed change of the part of the Labour act about women’s rights at the workplace in hope that we can gather a couple of more important signatures — the ones for the acceptance of the proposal.

Gender discrimination doesn’t end here, but together we can put an end to it.